Dear Editor:
In response to Hoppy Kercheval's recent opinion piece on your website, I think coal WILL come "roaring back."
When it is not crippled by over-regulation, coal, not natural gas, is usually the least expensive option. If you tied his legs together and his hands behind his back, basketball star Lebron James would lose in a one on one against even me.
Similarly, under the Obama administration, coal was not allowed to compete in a fair and open marketplace with other energy sources; so naturally it often lost out.
Natural gas should be saved for applications it does especially well, such as: heating, cooking, transportation, fertilizers and in the manufacture of fabrics, glass, steel, plastics, paint, and other products.
Using it for base load power generation is a waste when the U.S. has so much high quality coal there for the taking. Using gas for base load power generation is like a reverse Midas touch, turning gold into lead.
Sincerely,
Tom Harris
Ottawa, Ontario
(Editor's Note: Harris is executive director of the Toronto-based International Climate Science Coalition. ICSC includes participants from across the political spectrum and is not a lobby group for any industry.)